Column

Help a newby fit in.

As clichéd as it may sound, Eben Cole’s dream of selling his own line of handmade electric guitars really did begin with a bang. Cole said it was 3 a.m. or so when some drunk or inattentive driver lost control and took out a good chunk of the front of his business, Cole Music Co., at 816 W. Garland.

Melissa Luck has had it up to here with media bashing. Or mebbe we should make that THE MEDIA! The assistant news director for KXLY4 News calls out media bashers in a Facebook post she introduces as “a plea” or “a rant.”

Maybe they come by to pick up some eggs.

Shirley Stafford Thagard, of Hayden Lake, was thinking happy thoughts of the show of force, with 500,000 of her closest friends, at the Women's March in Washington, D.C., as her plane approached Denver Monday. Then, the pilot pulled up from the runway and ascended again. He performed a 15-minute circle before successfully landing on a second try. Shirley found out why the pilot had performed the odd maneuver as she de-planed.

The circus was never about the animals for me. It was about magic, make believe and those daring young men on the flying trapeze. Once upon a time it really was “The Greatest Show on Earth.”

Patrick Glass, of Spokane, is a Swedish celebrity, thanks to his participation in the 2016 season of that country’s top reality TV show.

Like countless others, I have long admired the 1974 movie “Chinatown.” I like the writing, the musical score, the acting, the story – you name it. But the film occasionally makes me wonder. There’s that famous ending line – “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”

Available parking may be the key to heroism.

Remember that name, Genesis Middlebos. Write it down. Tuck it away. I’m willing to bet that we will all hear it again someday, and associated with something really big.

State Rep. Heather Scott says her apology for making a disparaging remark about other female legislators may never be enough for the speaker of the House.

Intentional or not, it’s never fun to be on the receiving end.

Thirty years ago, the city of Coeur d’Alene was the toast of New York City. On Jan. 14, 1987, civic and civil rights leaders gathered in New York’s historic City Hall to award the Raoul Wallenberg Civic Award to Coeur d’Alene for fighting racism.

Timing is everything.

Is outspoken tea party/Redoubt sweetheart Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, channeling the late Helen Chenoweth-Hage? That was a question that came up at Huckleberries Online after Scott got in trouble with House GOP leaders for saying female legislators acquired power through sexual favors. There are similarities between Rep. Scott and the three-term former congresswoman from Idaho’s 1st District. But there are also key differences.

Relatively speaking, it’s an honor.

John Hancock is keeping a close eye on the Obamacare clock. Hancock has 14 months until he reaches age 65 and qualifies for Medicare. A self-employed consultant who relies on health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, he wonders if he’ll make it to Medicare before losing his current insurance – or if he’ll return to the ranks of America’s uninsured one last time.

Dodson’s is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, continually operating retail businesses in Spokane. And it’s been run all that time by members of the same family.

The canceled neo-Nazi parade in Whitefish, Mont., this month reminds this columnist of a 1999 parade in downtown Coeur d'Alene, led by Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler. The racist from Hayden Lake was then 82 and still spewing hatred. He attracted less than two dozen to the march, including a baby in a stroller and her 6-year-old sister. The march also attracted a large crowd of chanting protesters.